Civil Conversation
by thesimplyuninspired
Summary: I hated attending my parents’ parties. But... I hadn’t expected to see her here. Oneshot, onesided JacKim, implied RaiKim


**Civil Conversation**

_by Calistar Heir_

**_Summary:_** I hated attending my parents' parties. But... I hadn't expected to see her here. One-sided JacKim, implied RaiKim

**Disclaimer:** Haruki: Calistar doesn't own it; so don't sue.

A/N: I must've been crazy to try and write a Jack fic... The fangirls are gonna murder me, I know it.

Haruki: Eh, what can you do?

Well, I figured I oughta write something for Jack; y'know, me mostly focusing on Raimundo an' all... But I don't think I got his character down; which is a problem, 'cause this is first-person. And the ending was just barely written up so... -shrug-

-_CC_-

Man, did I hate tuxedoes.

Mom and dad insisted that I wear one; I drew the line at combing my hair though. And taking off the goggles and make-up; I may be attending a fancy-pants party, but I'm still the Dark Prince of the Universe, thank you very much!

Skulking as I was in an unsatisfactorily dark corner with a cup of punch, it was apparent to just about everyone that I hated coming to my parents' parties. For a while they let me stay at home with my robots and Wuya (stupid ghost-hag...) but this time they were pretty adamant in me coming. Of course, they had to drag me out to – wherever this lousy mansion was – with all its snow... In fact, unless my eyes deceive me, it's snowing again now.

'Course, the grownups pay no mind; they stand around, chatting about wealthy-people things, laughing with each other and holding glasses filled with various amounts of various beverages. Every-so-often, one goes by the punch table, spots me, and smirks. I just glare stonily back, and they walk off in a huff, noses in the air.

Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius, reduced to standing in a corner and glaring at people. Talk about sad.

...Well, okay, I've been forced to do worse stuff with my Shen-Gong-Wu collecting lifestyle (some of which I do not want to repeat,) but still. I'd even be happy with a butt-kicking by the stupid Xiaolin Losers by this point.

Knock-on-wood.

Subconsciously, my knuckles wrapped the wall behind me. ...I mean, rapped. And besides, it was a stone wall, so I was out of luck anyway.

Glancing at the huge vaulted windows, it became apparent that the snow had stopped. I sighed; this was the fifth time it'd stopped, I swear. And despite the weather outside, I was starting to feel real stuffy standing in my lonely little corner. Sighing, I made my way through the crowd, to the opposite wall, where there was a huge walk-out balcony. As I went, snatches of different conversations passed my ears, and glancing around, I thought I spotted a familiar-looking man, Japanese and kinda short, just below my height. But I shrugged it off. Probably spotted him while Wu hunting; maybe I snatched one of 'em from him.

When I reached the open doors, the chill from outside enveloped my quickly, my back still to the warmth and light from the party. Outside, though, the clouds had cleared for the moment, and a moon was out. Sighing, and giving a small shiver, I walked out. After a few steps, however, I froze. Somewhere in my mind, I was aware of my eyes widening.

After all, I hadn't expected to see _her_ here.

Her back was turned to me, but there was no doubt that it was Kimiko Tohomiko. She wearing a fancy red dress, a shawl of the same color around her shoulders, and her ebony hair was put in a high ponytail. When she turned and saw me, I saw her blue eyes widen and the delicate eyebrows rise.

For a moment, we just kinda stared at each other.

"...Spicer?" she asked finally, accusation tinting her words; her China-face was hardening into the look that said she was gonna kick my butt into next week in a few seconds.

"Hey Kimiko," I said, feeling the nervous smile coming to my face. Her expression didn't change, and I put my hands up. "I haven't done anything yet; honest."

"Emphasis on 'yet'," she said coldly. But that fire hadn't entered her eyes yet; that was good.

I rubbed my neck uncomfortably. "Yeah...," I mumbled, not quite sure what to say, and for what seemed like a long time, neither of us said anything.

The silence that ensued was pretty uncomfortable.

Finally, I just went and said it. "Hey, can I stay out here for a while?"

For a moment, she just kinda looked at me, her hands still in fists. Then she loosened, and sighed, turning to lean against the railing, as she had been before I showed up. "Fine," she grumbled. "Just – don't try anything."

I nodded, even though I knew she couldn't see me, and walked over to mimic her, leaning against the railing three or four feet's distance away. For a bit, we didn't say anything, and I glanced at her. The moonlight on her face made her look almost angelic, and I felt a faint blush in my cheeks.

So I've got a crush on the Xiaolin Dragon of Fire. Gimme a break already.

"S-so," I stammered, looking over the snow-covered scenery, "what are you doing here?"

Kimiko sighed with her whole body, and explained. "Papa wanted me to come." Aha; I thought that little guy looked familiar. "We don't get to see each other all that much with my current lifestyle, and I knew it'd mean a lot to him..." She turned a questioning look to me. "You?"

"Meh, parentals dragged me here," I said uncaringly. "They've been letting me off the hook the last few years, but they put their foot down this time. I came out here to escape from the party."

She gave a bark of humorless laughter. "Same here; can't believe I forgot my phone at the temple... Right now, I'm actually hoping Dojo'll come by some odd chance and take me back to China."

I snorted inwardly and shook my head. "How can you stand riding him?" I asked disbelievingly.

Kimiko turned her face to me with an almost evil smirk, causing her eyes to twinkle in a manner that froze me for a split-second. "Not all of us have such queasy stomachs, Jack." Bursting into a fit of giggling, she added, "Y'know, Clay never did forgive you for what you did to his hat."

I flushed violently at the memory of throwing up in said Dragon of Earth's hat. "The cowboy had it coming! And keep your little snide remarks to yourself!"

Still giggling, she said, "Sorry," and turned back to the moonlit sky above.

I could only blink, stunned. I swear I misheard... "Did you just say 'sorry' – to me?"

Kimiko blinked at me, a dubious expression on her face. "Well, yeah. Got a problem?"

"Yes!" I yelped. "I mean, no! I mean – you said _sorry_. To me!"

I could've sworn a few crickets were chirping off in the distance.

"Yes Jack," she said, as though talking to a particularly dim-witted six year old. "People tend to say that to other people."

A scowl found my pale face. "Oh, shut up," I grumbled, turning from her. I heard her giggle some more, but she stopped, and silence came over us again.

Somewhere in the corner of my brain, it registered how weird this was: Me and Kimiko had never been exactly friends, nor had she wanted us to be, her being one of the good guys and me being their longest-running opponent, but here we were, chatting like just about any other newly acquainted pair. And she was _giggling_.

In all honesty, it was a little scary.

For me, the only thing scarier than an angry Kimiko is a nice one.

But glancing at her again, I couldn't help but wonder... If we ever gave a relationship a try, could it work? Then again, I reasoned, she didn't exactly go for my type.

I came to a stop at that. I didn't even know what Kimiko's type was.

And before I knew what I was doing, the question was out of my mouth. "Kimiko, just what _is_ your type?"

Cringing in horror, I looked at Kimiko to see that she'd turned a full ninety degrees to face me; everything was pointing out that her infamous temper was on the rise. "What was that?" she snapped, the fire in her eyes very frightening in itself.

It was all I could do not to start screaming right there. "I-I was just curious, th-that's all..." My terror only rose when I saw that her expression hadn't changed. An image of myself – burned to a crunchy crisp – suddenly came to mind, and a whimper built up in my throat.

Then, to my overwhelming shock, her fists lowered, and she turned back to the railing. "Don't have one," she grunted.

Even though the warning signs were all over the place and very high, I found myself probing the question. "Well, what are you attracted to? What draws you to guys?"

Her narrowed eyes glanced at me, and she scowled straight ahead. But then I heard her mutter, just loud enough for me to hear, "Green eyes."

Green eyes? A thought suddenly popped into my head. Frowning, I peered closely at her. "...A Brazilian accent wouldn't hurt either, I'd imagine?"

"_What_?" she snarled, raising a fist at me. I could've sworn I saw sparks flickering from her clenched fingers.

"Nothing, nothing," I said quickly, turning from her. But the suspicion had settled quite firmly in my mind, and I felt my spirits sink; I had definitely touched a soft spot. Suddenly, I was reminded of how pathetic I must be in her eyes.

"It _better_ be nothing," she growled, but her fist unclenched, and he wasn't glaring anymore. (At least, not at me.)

"It is," I confirmed. She growled, and I took that as a sign to shut up.

The silence dragged on, and I noticed some clouds coming this way; they were actually approaching fast. I blinked; did clouds move that fast? I wasn't really sure anymore what qualified as normal these days, so I just stared at the oncoming mass with blankly confused eyes. They'd be on us pretty soon...

I heard Kimiko sigh heavily, and glanced over to see she was hanging her head in such a manner that she seemed to be leaning over the balcony, as if to jump. "More snow...," she said drearily. "Does it _ever_ stop here?"

"Dunno," I remarked. Never been to this place before, honestly."

She acknowledged my statement with a brief glance.

Silently, a snowflake fluttered down from the darkened sky. I watched it float quietly to earth, tracing its progress with my eyes until it gave a final twirl and settled on Kimiko's head. Then another one fell, and another, their numbers doubling, tripling, quadrupling, until there were far too many to count, settling in gentle silence wherever they landed. With a small shiver, Kimiko frowned slightly and tugged her shawl closer around her. She stared out into the distance, almost wistfully.

And for the first time, though it only lasted maybe one or two seconds, Kimiko wasn't just particularly pretty to me; she was _beautiful_.

Before I knew what I was doing, my hand had been shuffling in my pocket, and was now holding out my cell-phone to her. Kimiko blinked at it, and stared at me with genuine surprise.

"Go ahead and call your pals," I said in a typical cool-guy manner. "You don't have to be here if you don't want to, right?"

For maybe a full five seconds, Kimiko stared at me, mouth open. Then she (gingerly, I will admit) took the phone from me, dialed a number, and placed it to her ear.

After a few moments, her eyes narrowed with a knowing smirk, and she spoke.

"Hey Rai; I knew you'd be fiddling with my stuff."

I could've sworn I heard Raimundo's voice yelping some sort of protest, but Kimiko cut him off. "Listen; could you send Dojo down here to get me? If he won't come, will you grab the Tiger Claws or something and bring me home?" She grinned. "Thanks, Rai."

She hung up, and handed me my phone – a little quickly, I thought. "Thanks," she said. "I'm gonna go find Papa and tell him I'm going. If Raimundo gets here before I get back, could you tell him to stick around? Just to be sure..."

I nodded, muttering quietly under my breath. I was actually trying to remind myself that, no, I was not friends with Kimiko Tohomiko, nor with Raimundo Pedrosa, who would be here in a little while, and that I had no desire to be.

Kimiko picked up her skirt and started walking back inside, but after a few steps she paused. She then turned to me, fixing me with this weird look that I was not familiar with at all. But something told me that it was good.

"Y'know, Jack...," she said slowly, her probing eyes never leaving mine, "...you're not so bad – when it's just a brief one-on-one talk."

And with that, she walked elegantly back into the building, leaving me to try and sort out what had just happened.

Finally, I shoved it to the back of my mind and leaned moodily against the railing, glaring at the snowy scenery which was getting snowier by the second.

I guess I hadn't been there too long when the familiar vortex ripped suddenly through the air, and Raimundo jumped out, still dressed in his monk robes and the Golden Tiger Claws on his right wrist. After landing, he blinked around, obviously searching for Kimiko, and his forest green gaze landed on me. His expression immediately hardened.

"I'm not doing anything," I said defensively, putting my hands up.

Eyes beneath the thick black eyebrows obviously thought different, but he turned from me with an obvious air of disregard. Already a good number of snowflakes had settled in his messy brown hair, starting to turn it white.

"Where's Kimiko?" the Brazilian asked shortly.

"Went to go tell daddy she's leaving," I said in an equally short tone.

We didn't say anything else to each other. Scowling inwardly, I glanced over, subconsciously comparing us. Raimundo must have started a growth spurt, because he was just a little taller than me, well-built like an acrobat whereas I had hardly any muscle, and while we both may have had unruly hair, his looked more windswept, and he had the piercing eyes. This comparison accomplished, I laughed humorlessly under my breath; next to him, I didn't stand a chance... though at what, I wouldn't really admit to, even to myself.

After a few moments, Raimundo started rubbing his arms and hopping from foot to foot. This allowed me a few moments of vindictive pleasure, knowing that I was nice and warm and he wasn't.

Maybe after two minutes, Kimiko reappeared, walking fast. It could've been my imagination, or it could've been the fact that she'd realized that her ticket home had arrived, I'm not sure...; but I thought I saw Kimiko's eyes light up very briefly with an expression I'd never seen before when she spotted her fellow Dragon of Wind, and I felt a tiny stirring within me.

"It's about time," she remarked, a teasing smirk on her face.

"You're lucky I came at all," the Brazilian scowled, but I could see it wasn't genuine. "I had to do some talking to Fungmister before I could even step into the vault. And if I'd known it was snowy, I'd've sent Omi."

I wondered how the little Dragon of Water would have handled the snow; snow was a property of water, right?

"Hmph; Omi's face would be a little more welcoming than your mug," she said with the same teasing smirk.

I rolled my eyes and tried to tune out the little exchange of words they were having. Then I heard Raimundo's voice shout, "GOLDEN TIGER CLAWS!" and the familiar whoosh of air from the portal opening crossed my ears. I turned to see Kimiko take Raimundo's hand, but before she jumped in, she turned to me. Her expression remained cautiously expressionless for a moment; then she allowed me a tiny smile.

"See ya around, Jack," she said calmly, in the same manner as she would after Shen-Gong-Wu hunting. She gave me a smirking wave (I'm telling you, her wave smirked!) and she and Raimundo jumped into the portal. It closed, and everything was calm again.

For some reason, I felt down and happy at the same time. Sighing, I turned from the balcony and walked inside.

The light from the party washed over me, making me feel warm after standing out in the snow for... well, I wasn't sure how long. My emotions were battling it out within me, one trying to outweigh the other. Then I realized something that caused both of them to stop.

"I just had a civil conversation with Kimiko Tohomiko."

-_CC_-

**There! -sobs- I wrote it! So take it! Take it in all of its OOC-ness! (...Well, I'm no judge, am I?)**

**Anyway; reviews are always welcome. Flamers... -sigh- Oh, what the heck; I can't stop you, anyway. Just don't get all offended when you receive no reaction.**


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